Florida took a small but important step toward making its criminal law more humane and effective when a state Senate committee last week approved a bill to raise the minimum age for capital punishment to 18. Unfortunately, the measure still faces a potentially bumpy road to passage.

The bill would prohibit the execution of anyone who was under the age of 18 when he or she committed a capital crime. Instead, it would impose a penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

It has the support of the state's top legal and law enforcement officials, Attorney General Charlie Crist and Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell. But that may not help if House Speaker Johnnie Byrd continues to staunchly oppose the measure.

The bill has bipartisan support in the Legislature. The Senate bill is sponsored by Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, who is a strong backer of the death penalty. But he rightly recognizes that juveniles are different from adults in that they don't fully understand the consequences of their actions.

Studies have shown that the brain continues to develop through late adolescence, and that key mental functions such as planning, judgment and emotional control are not fully developed until then. That's why society doesn't let children drink, drive or vote. They don't have the judgment or emotional maturity for such activities. So why does the state pretend children are no different from adults in the criminal justice system?

The bill also makes sense from a pragmatic point of view. Halting such executions would spare the state and victims' families years of expensive court appeals and ensure that innocent children are not put to death. Moreover, with the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled to take up the issue of executing minors, Victor Crist says that without his legislation, the high court might invalidate Florida's entire capital punishment law.

Byrd, to his credit, has allowed the bill to be heard in committee. He should also do the right thing by permitting it to come to a full House vote.

Florida is behind the curve on this issue. The federal government and 19 states already prohibit the execution of minors, while 12 other states have no death penalty at all. Florida may choose not to join that trend, although it should, but the representatives of the people at least deserve the right to vote on it.